Black City

Fire

It is a tough game being a professional and widely acknowledged rock band in Denmark due to the size of the country affecting the demand on live venues and other sources of income. Black City on the other hand seems to have found their place in the Danish music scenery playing loads of gigs on a rather intense tour around Scandinavia bringing the band by some of the more established venues and being supporting act for the legendary AC/DC. “Fire” is the title of their new album which is the follow up to their self-titled debut from 2010. Just like the debut, “Fire” contains plenty of speed and rock ‘n’ roll attitude of what could be called an international standard.

Opening track “If I Ever Go Down” sets the standard for the rest of the album with their hard rock approach to the big stadium rock with loads of sing-a-long lines and a solid pace. Black City appears to be inspired by Foo Fighters and a symbiose between Metallica’s “Load”- and "St. Anger”-days with their hard rock ‘n’ roll aiming for an audience in the broader spectrum. Lead singer Bjørn Poulsen’s slightly rough vocals are the base for the bands expression accompanied by Kristian Klærke’s pretty written well guitar riffs. Mixen Lindberg’s heavy bass and Jakob Bjørn Hansen’s tight and straight forward drumming all comes together with the rest to create a pretty consistent release that is probably going to be able to set fire to the dance floor because of the fact that it's a great party piece.

“Fire” is a hard rocking record without any bullshit, associating to driving down Californian highway 360 on a hot summer day in your Mustang Convertible. However, the lack of bullshit does inhibit the record a bit. It never really gets its grip on me despite the well-written material. I do not know whether it is because of the album is a bit to polished and misses some kind of an edge or if it's just not my particular fancy. Nevertheless, if you are familiar with the debut or if you just like the track below, this record and Black City will be a really entertaining listen and will give you loads of hours in good company.